WATCHERS by Dean R. Koontz

reflection of the moon or streetlamp for a flame.

“Are you worried that it’s still after you?” he asked.

The dog woofed once, quietly.

“Well, I don’t think it is,” Travis said. “I don’t think you understand how far

north we’ve come. We had wheels, but it would have, had to follow on foot, which

it couldn’t have done. Whatever it was, it’s far behind us, Einstein, far down

there in Orange County, with no way of knowing where we’ve gone. You don’t have

to worry about it any more. You understand?”

Einstein nuzzled and licked Travis’s hand as if reassured and grateful. But he

looked out the window again and issued a barely audible whimper.

Travis had to coax him back into the bedroom. There, the dog wanted to lie on

the bed beside his master, and in the interest of calming the animal, Travis did

not object.

Wind murmured and moaned in the bungalow’s eaves.

Now and then the house creaked with ordinary middle-of-the-night settling

noises.

Engine purring, tires whispering, a car went by on the street.

Exhausted from the emotional as well as the physical exertions of the day,

Travis was soon asleep.

Near dawn he came half awake and realized that Einstein was at the bedroom

window again, keeping watch. He murmured the retriever’s name and wearily patted

the mattress. But Einstein remained on guard, and Travis drifted off once more.

FOUR

1

The day following her encounter with Art Streck, Nora Devon went for a long

walk, intending to explore parts of the city that she had never seen before. She

had taken short walks with Violet once a week. Since the old woman’s death, Nora

still went out, though less often, and she never ventured farther than six or

eight blocks from home. Today, she would go much farther. This was to be the

first small step in a long journey toward liberation and self-respect.

Before setting out, she considered having a light lunch later at a restaurant

chosen at random along the way. But she had never been in a restaurant. The

prospect of dealing with a waiter and dining in the company of strangers was

daunting. Instead, she packed one apple, one orange, and two oatmeal cookies in

a small paper bag. She would eat lunch alone, in a park somewhere. Even that

would be revolutionary. One small step at a time.

The sky was clear. The air was warm. With vivid green spring growth, the trees

looked fresh; they stirred in a breeze just strong enough to take the searing

edge off the hot sunlight.

As Nora strolled past the well-kept houses, the vast majority of which were in

one style of Spanish architecture or another, she looked at doors and windows

with a new curiosity, wondering about the people who lived within. Were they

happy? Sad? In love? What music and books did they enjoy? What food? Were they

planning vacations to exotic places, evenings at the theater, visits to

nightclubs?

She had never wondered about them before because she had known their lives and

hers would never cross. Wondering about them would have been a

waste of time and effort. But now.

When she encountered other walkers, she kept her head down and averted her face,

as she had always done before, but after a while she found the Courage to look

at some of them. She was surprised when many smiled at her and said hello. In

time, she was even more surprised when she heard herself respond.

At the county courthouse she paused to admire the yellow blossoms of the Yucca

plants and the rich red bougainvillea that climbed the stucco wall and twined

through the ornate wrought-iron grille over one of the tall windows.

At the Santa Barbara Mission, built in 1815, she stood at the foot of the

front steps and studied the handsome façade of the old church. She explored the

courtyard with its Sacred Garden and climbed the west bell tower.

Gradually, she began to understand why, in some of the many books she had read,

Santa Barbara had been called one of the most beautiful places on earth. She had

lived there nearly all her life, but because she had cowered in the Devon house

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230

Leave a Reply 0

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *